My childhood ultimate comfort food is this Baked Fettuccine Casserole with feta cheese, milk, eggs and butter. What can be more comforting than that? It’s basically like a baked mac and cheese, but with Mediterranean flavors.
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Baked Fettuccine with Feta Cheese
This baked fettuccine casserole with feta cheese, milk, eggs and butter is called Pastiço in my native country. Other countries have variations of this pasta bake called pasticho, pastitsio, pastiçe etc. I’ve noticed that these other variations have meat and other ingredients, while the Albanian version is very simple. It has few ingredients and it is easy to bake. This dish definitely brings back memories for me.
While back in my native country, we usually serve this fettuccine casserole for lunch, my kids like to have the leftovers for breakfast. That’s a new one to me but I do understand why. All the cheese and eggs make it yummy:)
We love having this casserole with Chicken Lemon Soup as a starter.
Pastiço Recipe Notes
While this is an Albanian recipe, the ingredients are easy to find anywhere. Plus, everyone that has ever tried this recipe at my house has asked for the recipe. Easy & simple recipes are always the favorites.
Here are some recipe notes that might help you while cooking this Mediterranean pasta casserole.
- You can use fettuccine or spaghetti to make this casserole.
- I usually eye-ball the ingredients and always, always add more feta cheese than the recipe calls for. So I go slow on salt because feta has enough.
- You can refrigerate the leftovers for next day. Honestly, this has never lasted more than 2 days in my house. We never freeze this casserole, it’s best when consumed fresh.
- Once you bake it, you have to let it sit for a little bit in order to cut it in square pieces. If you start cutting when it is still hot, the pasta might come apart.
- Bechamel or no bechamel: Feel free to cover the top of the casserole with a bechamel sauce. It will make the crust smoother. I like the stray pieces of fettuccine sticking out, they get a bit crunchy from baking. To me that’s perfect. But if you don’t like the un-even crunch on top, add bechamel to the baking dish for a smooth top.
While this dish is the ultimate comfort food, I would still like to mention that it’s full of calories and carbs:). Back when I used to eat this dish often, I used to also walk about 1.5-2 hrs a day. It’s a different lifestyle that includes a lot of walking, so I guess it was easier to burn all these calories. Right now this dish is more of a treat and when I crave food from back home.
Here’s a pictures of ingredients before I started cooking.
Baked Fettuccine Casserole With Feta Cheese (Pastiço)
Ingredients
- 1.5 lb fettuccine (about 1.5 standard packets)
- 2 cups milk
- 1 stick butter (about 8 tbsps)
- 6 eggs
- 3 ozs parmesan cheese
- pinch salt (optional)
- 0.75 lbs feta cheese
- pinch black pepper
Instructions
- Boil water with a bit of salt. Throw fettuccine in and stir so they don't stick. I usually add a tsp of olive oil or butter to the boiling water to prevent the pasta from sticking. Boil for about half of the time indicated in the box, usually 6-8 minutes instead of the regular 12-14 minutes.
- Turn oven on at 380 degrees Fahrenheit (about 190 degrees Celsius) so it can pre-heat.
- Melt about 1 tbsp of the butter and coat the bottom of the baking dish.
- Once the pasta has cooked for 6-8 minutes, drain the water and pour pasta in the baking dish. Arrange so it fills the dish evenly. I used a 9×13 baking dish.
- Crumble the feta cheese and spread with a fork in between pasta and over. Cube the butter and repeat. Pasta is still warm enough that butter will start melting slowly.
- Whisk eggs and then add the milk, keep whisking for a minute or so. Then pour this mix over the pasta. Use the fork to move the pasta slowly so the egg/milk sauce can set in evenly.
- Bake for about 30 minutes. If the top is getting too crispy, lower the dish to the bottom rack or cover with an aluminum foil. I personally like a little bit of crisp on top so I don't cover it.
- Add bechamel sauce (instructions not included) if you don't like a crispy top.
- Sprinkle with parmesan cheese about 2 minutes before you'll turn oven off.
- Once casserole is baked, let it cool for about 15 minutes before you cut it in square pieces. Serve warm!
Notes
- I would like to add a note on the eggs. It’s preferred to use eggs from pasture raised chickens for this dish. Those eggs have a bright orange egg yolk compared to an opaque yellow from regular eggs. The deep orange color gives a more appealing look to this casserole.
- I use a lot of feta cheese so I add very little salt to this dish since feta cheese is already very salty. Adjust salt accordingly.
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Other Albanian Recipes:
Please see below several of my other Albanian recipes:
Christine
Hi Sonila, I’m in Albania now and appreciate being able to find your recipes for traditional dishes in English. Just curious: does any Albanian ever add vegetables to their pastiço? I feel tempted to add flaked tuna, zucchini and onions with some dill and parsley…but that may just be me trying to turn this into a tuna casserole and missing the point of the simplicity of traditional pastiço.
Sonila
Hi Christine, thank you so much for reaching out:). You can definitely customize it to your liking. This is supposed to be a simple dish, using very few ingredients. Traditionally you can add bechamel on top too to avoid the crispy edges of pasta sticking out. It makes for a smooth layer on top. We usually serve it with a big salad and some yogurt. It’s never served with tuna because of feta and eggs, it would change the profile too much I suppose. However, an Albanian friend of mine going to school here in US with me made this dish for a potluck and she added ham inside the casserole and it tasted soo good!! Everyone loved it and that was not a traditional ingredient.
Also, something else I’ve noticed while communicating with Albanian chefs and food bloggers online. Their dishes with time have gotten a facelift, more ingredients, better garnishing etc. I haven’t lived in Albania for the last 22 years so sometimes my memory of a dish or a recipe can be a little old fashioned, which is fine because that’s what reminds me of my childhood. But there can be variations by region and also variations because of upgrades through time:).
Let me know if you have any other questions or looking for a specific recipe in English, I have a long list I want to publish but can re-arrange order if I know you’re looking for any one of them:). I’m about to publish revani soon!
Best regards and hope your trip is beautiful!
Sonila
Christine
Thank you so much, Sonila! I’ve got some noodles, eggs, milk, and feta in the fridge now, so I’m going to give the traditional version of pastiço a try :). As for other recipes, I’m looking for a way to elaborate on the traditional Petka dishes I’ve seen (maybe including all the traditional dairy, plus something more, like mushrooms or herbs, if that could work)? Also, I’d like to make a real Fergese (vegetarian with red peppers). Recipes in English call for Greek yogurt (for the cheese element), but I’m wondering what kind of cheese Albanians really use (it doesn’t look like yogurt in the versions I’ve seen so far). In the market today I saw some white balls of ‘spec’ in a jar next to the fergese, and thought that might be the cheese I should try (it looked like cheese, but since ‘spec’ means ‘pepper’ I don’t know what I was really looking at, lol).
Overall, I’m interested in any traditional recipes that are vegetarian, and can’t wait to see what you post. Being able to try the authentic ingredients and dishes while I’m here is half the fun –the other day I made a byrek with a type of wild greens that I’d never seen before (White Goosefoot?!) and Pete me Pjekura (sp?), which was so much easier than using phyllo (A+ for Albania, for inventing these sheets!). Still, I’m not 100% sure that I had the right proportions of melted butter, egg, and milk (for dipping the Pete me pjekura). Okay… I get a little too excited about cooking and will stop now 🙂 .
In any case, thank you for posting these recipes in English, they’re just great <3 .
Sonila
On fergese try to use ricotta (when not in Albania). If you are in Albania, use ‘gjize or gjiza’!! I’ll write longer shortly:)). I’m so impressed you’re making byrek me pete to pjekura!! It’s a favorite of mine and usually I still ask my mom to make it when she visits!!
Christine
Thanks so much for the info. Sonia, I will look for the gjize (I think I saw it many times already, but didn’t know what it was, haha). Anyway, I would love to hear more from you later, when you have time for my frivolities and excesses (I’m a bit ‘possessed’ when it comes to cooking … it’s my art and insatiable curiosity in life). I actually just made a Facebook page where I plan to post my recipes, including experiments in Albanian cooking (the page is called The Savory Tart). I have no followers yet, lol. In any case, you could at least see the results of my Albanian experiments there, with full credit to you for any recipes or suggestions of yours that I try 🙂 !
Christine
p.s. sorry that I didn’t catch the autocorrect of your name before sending my reply. I hate when that happens :/ .
Veronica
In love with this fettuccine casserole! Feta is one of my favorites cheeses. This is pure comfort food.
Sonila
Definitely Vero!! I’m happpy you think so:))
Michel Taveras
this baked pasta looks so delicious for the perfect comfort food casserole. definitely a must!
mavi trapos
Wow! it looks delicious! I love baked pasta and of curse, baked fettuccine too but I can’t remember the last time a cooked it…
Andrés Schmucke
Esto se ve divino y para un papá como yo no luce tan difícil de preparar. Voy a hacer la prueba. La comfort food es la mejor comida de todas.
Sonila
Si Andres, es muy facil de preparar y a mis hijos les encanta!! Hay dias que comfort food es necesario:). Muchas gracias!
Fabiola Acosta
I love all your recipes!. This baked pasta is amazing. My daughters love fettuccine pasta and I love feta cheese. The perfect combination. I’m going to prepare this recipe this weekend. Amazing this comfort food casserole.
Sonila
Thank you Fabiola:))). Hope you all enjoy it!!